Transfer money with emoji and GIFs: Plynk is part messaging app, part payment platform

Most payment companies probably don’t think too hard about how emoji could improve their services, but money messaging app Plynk encourages its users to embellish their transfers with photos and GIFs. “We’re trying to remove the awkwardness that people have around money,” Charles Dowd, cofounder and CEO of the Dublin-based startup, told WIRED. Loaning money and splitting bills can be a touchy subject even between friends, but Dowd thinks that making payments easier – and a bit more fun – could be the answer.

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Plynk functions very similarly to Venmo in the US. It looks more like WhatsApp than a mobile banking app, and allows users to send small amounts of cash to their contacts in a one-on-one message or group chat. Today, at MoneyConf in Madrid, the startup announced it had raised a €25 million Series A round. Having launched the app in January in Ireland, the company plans to expand to Spain and Portugal, then other European countries.

The app is aimed at students and young people who want an instant way to transfer small amounts to each other – to split a restaurant bill or share a taxi fare, for example. When you sign up for Plynk using your Facebook login, you get a payment account with a limit of €2,500. You can then send money from your Plynk balance to a friend’s by sending a message. You also get a virtual Mastercard, which lets you spend money from your Plynk account online.

The company plans to integrate Apple and Android Pay into the app in the next few months so users can make mobile payments from the balance in their Plynk account too. Dowd imagines a typical use case being a group of friends in a bar: everyone messages the cost of their drink to one person buying a round, and by the time they’ve placed the order the money is in their Plynk account and they can use it to pay via mobile.

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Person-to-person payments are a hot topic at the moment, with Apple announcing its own P2P payment system within the Apple Messages app at WWDC 2017 this week. Dowd says Apple’s entry into the field, along with the success of Venmo in the US, only validates the idea of bringing a similar service to Europe. He says Plynk isn’t interested in becoming a challenger bank or offering services such as lending or saving, though it may partner with companies that do so in order to monetise the platform. The app itself has no cost. “Plynk is free and will be free forever,” he says.

With the new funding round, the team plans to grow its team and develop its tech to make headway toward its goal of “making Plynk a verb in every European language”. Ultimately, Dowd hopes that “plynking” someone money will be as easy as sending a picture message, and will help make borrowing and lending between friends less socially fraught. “People lose friendships over really small amounts of money and we're just trying to make that not happen,” he says.